PureCircle Ltd. (PCRTF)

[tykundegex]

Article about Stevia suppliers from just-food.com

http://www.just-food.com/management-briefing/from-cargill-to-purecircle_id118747.aspx

... here is a snippit of the part mentioning PureCircle...

PureCircle claims leadership of the world market for high-purity stevia ingredients supplied to the global food and drinks industry. Its share of the world market for reb A, for example, amounts to nearly 80%. Headquartered in Malaysia and listed in London, the company's stevia is grown throughout South America, Africa, Asia and the US, while its Jiangxi facility in China has an annual capacity approaching 4,000 tonnes of high-purity stevia extracts, and is the world's largest of its kind.

Pure Circle has been active in developing the global stevia market, having helped to establish and provide support to the Global Stevia Institute in 2010. It has also pioneered Stevia PureCircle, an industry trust mark that it claims serves as a symbol of quality and sustainable sourcing and also educates consumers about the benefits of stevia.

According to Pure Circle, its reb A is up to 400 times sweeter than sucrose, and is supplied to customers such as PepsiCo and Merisant under the PureVia brand. Its range also comprises other ingredients based on stevia extracts, examples of which include SG95 (which is described as ideal for partial replacement of calories when blended with sugar) and Pure Circle Alpha, which is described as up to 250 times sweeter than sucrose and is also ideal for reduced-calorie products. The company has over 100 customers within the global food and drinks industry, examples of which include Unilever, Danone and Dean Foods.

In recent years, Pure Circle's global footprint has been extended via a series of major partnerships and/or joint ventures. The main examples are listed below:

Natural Sweet Ventures – this North American joint venture was established in partnership with Imperial Sugar Company in February 2010.

The Natural Sweetness Company – this joint venture was established in partnership with British Sugar in July 2010. It operates in Western European countries such as the UK, Ireland and Spain, as well as in China and Africa.

Tereos Pure Circle Solutions – this joint venture was established with sugar producer Tereos in September 2010. Based in France, Tereos Pure Circle Solutions was set up to market stevia-based sweeteners in European countries such as Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

NP Sweet – this joint venture was established with Nordzucker in March 2011. Based in Denmark, NP Sweet produces stevia extracts and steviasucrose to clients across the more northern and eastern parts of Europe, with production concentrated in Germany and Scandinavia.